State v. Bias
| Decision Date | 12 February 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. C9-87-1249,C9-87-1249 |
| Citation | 419 N.W.2d 480 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Willie R. BIAS, Jr., Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The evidence, though circumstantial, was sufficient to support appellant's conviction for first degree murder while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery.
2. Appellant's indictment for premeditated and felony murder adequately informed him of the charges against him so that his defense was not prejudiced.
3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling appellant's prior felony conviction was admissible for impeachment purposes.
C. Paul Jones, State Public Defender, Melissa Sheridan, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Thomas L. Johnson, Vernon F. Bergstrom, Chief, Appellate Section, Lisa A. Berg, Asst. Co. Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent.
Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
Willie Bias, Jr., appeals his conviction for first degree murder while committing or attempting aggravated robbery, a violation of Minn.Stat. Sec. 609.185(3) (1986). Appellant contends (a) the evidence, entirely circumstantial, does not support the jury's verdict; (b) the indictment was constitutionally flawed; and (c) the trial court erroneously allowed him to be impeached with evidence of a prior felony conviction. We affirm on all three grounds.
Appellant's main claim of insufficient evidence requires a detailed review of the facts. On Saturday, October 18, 1986, at 11:43 p.m., the Minneapolis Fire Department received a call reporting a fire at 32 Spruce Place. The call was placed by Charles Swenson, who lived on the third floor of an adjoining building and could see into a window of Apartment 301 at 32 Spruce Place. Swenson heard a noise at his window and when he looked out noticed a bright orange flash, followed by smoke, in the window across the courtyard. He called 911, then hurried to the burning apartment and opened the unlocked door. Swenson tried to crawl in, but cut himself on broken glass and became overwhelmed by smoke. Before leaving, he saw what he thought was a person's leg.
Fire department officials arrived shortly thereafter and, while subduing the fire, found a body slumped over the arm of a sofa in the living room. The body, charred beyond recognition, was later identified by dental records as Robert Churchill, the apartment's tenant. An October 19 autopsy revealed a stab wound to the heart, as well as fractured cartilage and bleeding in the neck, consistent with strangulation. Low carbon monoxide levels in the body and normal lungs showed Churchill died before the fire began. The medical examiner opined the stab wound was the cause of death. Fire investigators found no trace of accelerants, but believed the fire was probably intentional, given the evidence of homicide. They also believed the fire originated on the sofa at the end where the body was found, as that area showed the greatest charring. A knife was found in the ashes near the sofa, but was burned so badly no blood could be recovered. There was no evidence of forced entry.
Minneapolis Police Detective Charles Miles initiated the homicide investigation. On Monday, October 20, he and another officer went to the Speakeasy Bar on Hennepin Avenue, looking for people who knew Robert Churchill. The officers approached a woman crying on the sidewalk outside the bar, who told them she was a good friend of Churchill's and had been with him at a party Saturday night. She had just learned of the death from the Speakeasy's bartender. The woman, Bonnie Bender, identified three other people who had been at the party: a black man named Eric, a man she knew only as Willie, and another she referred to as "the Mexican." She also described a submachine gun Churchill owned and passed around at the party, but which was not recovered in the apartment after the fire.
Within a few days, police located Erasmo (Eric) Diaz Delaluz and Jerry Wittner ("the Mexican"), who confirmed Bender's report. Bender and Delaluz identified Bias from a photo lineup as the "Willie" who had also been present, but police could not find him. Sgt. Miles contacted Bias' sister, Lenore Stukel, telling her Bias was wanted in connection with a burglary. Bias called Stukel twice in October and asked if anyone was looking for him, but refused to tell her precisely where he was. When Bias called Stukel once more, he told her he was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after she said she might need to contact him if something happened to their ailing grandfather. Stukel relayed that information to Miles and Bias was arrested by Baton Rouge authorities under a Minnesota second degree murder warrant. Bias waived extradition and Miranda rights, and on November 17, 1986, submitted to questioning in Baton Rouge by Sgts. Miles and DeConcini of the Minneapolis Police Department. A grand jury indicted Bias on one count of premeditated murder and one count of murder while committing aggravated robbery, both constituting murder in the first degree.
At trial, the four guests at Churchill's party related the events of October 18, 1986. Around 11:00 a.m. that day Bias went to the Speakeasy Bar on Hennepin Avenue. There he approached Bonnie Bender, whom he did not know, and invited her to play pool. Two or three hours later, Robert Churchill came in and greeted them. Bender had known Churchill for several years and considered him "like my brother." Bias also knew Churchill, who housed Bias for a short time in 1985 after Bias was released from prison. After a few drinks, Churchill suggested they all go to his apartment along with two others in the bar, Jerry Wittner and Bender's friend Eric Delaluz. Delaluz had other business, but agreed to join them later.
Late that afternoon, Churchill, Bender, Wittner and Bias left the Speakeasy to go to Churchill's apartment at 32 Spruce Place, where they drank and talked into the evening. At one point, Churchill asked Bender if she wanted to see his "baby." Bender said, "Sure," and Churchill retrieved from the bedroom a large case apparently carrying a musical instrument. The case actually contained a semi-automatic submachine gun which Churchill passed around the group, then put back in the case. When Delaluz arrived, Churchill again brought out the gun and passed it around the room. Appellant put the gun away in the bedroom.
Witnesses testified appellant later approached Delaluz and said something about selling the gun and that "he had to have it." Delaluz, a Cuban national with poor English, did not fully understand appellant, but Bender overheard the conversation and thought appellant wanted to steal the gun and have Delaluz help "get rid of it." Bender angrily confronted appellant and informed Churchill, but appellant denied the accusation, saying he wanted only to buy the gun for resale at a profit. Appellant testified Delaluz was a potential buyer. According to Bender, Churchill said he would kill appellant if he tried to steal the gun.
Sometime after the argument, Delaluz said he needed to buy cigarettes and wanted to leave. Bender asked Churchill to accompany them to the Speakeasy, but Churchill said he was drunk and wanted to stay home. Bender told Bias he had to leave too, but Bias wanted to stay and talk with Churchill. Bender asked Churchill which he preferred, and Churchill said he wanted everyone to go.
Evidence of subsequent events is conflicting. According to Bender, she picked up the phone and threatened to call the police, whereupon Bias "disappeared." Everyone else was still in the living room and heard a door click. Bender, Delaluz and Wittner then left, though Bender stood outside the door until she was sure Churchill locked it. She and the others hurried down the steps to confront Bias again, but could not find him. Wittner left on his bicycle and Bender and Delaluz left for the Speakeasy about 10:30 p.m.
Bias testified he agreed to leave but went first to the bathroom, then to the kitchen to get beer. According to Bias, Bender followed him around the apartment and stood at the door until he was on his way down the steps. He was afraid the group would "gang up" on him, and hurried to nearby Loring Park. Bias said he sat near the fountain to drink his beer and was joined by a man he recognized from Personal Contractors, Inc. (PCI), an agency through which he had obtained temporary work in previous weeks. Bias gave the man a beer and confessed he had slashed the tires on PCI vans recently. After one or two hours, Bias testified, he headed home to Portland Avenue and Ninth Street, walking down Yale Place and through the parking lot of the MacPhail Music Center.
Bias' testimony at this point agrees with that of Minneapolis Police Officer Paul Peterson, who encountered Bias in the MacPhail lot. Peterson was in the area investigating a call he received around 11:25 p.m., about a man shooting a gun near Hennepin Avenue and 13th Street. He stationed his car at the dead end of 13th Street just east of Yale Place, and saw a person cross 13th Street a block away on Harmon Place. The person was carrying what Peterson thought might be a gun case, but Peterson did not believe this person was the subject of his 11:25 p.m. call. He then slowly drove up 13th Street to Harmon and turned right, continuing to follow the person nearly a block ahead of him. The person turned right onto 12th Street, but when Peterson turned, after stopping for a red light, the person was nowhere in sight. Thinking the person might have stepped into a building on 12th Street, Peterson pulled into the MacPhail Center lot to turn around and continue his search. As he did so, he saw a man at the end of the parking lot. Peterson pulled the car toward the man, Bias, who also approached Peterson. Bias was wearing a baseball cap and dark blue windbreaker with the words "Rainbow Bowl" on...
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